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Spanish rider Marquez on pole in France

Spain's world championship leader Marc Marquez will start on pole in Sunday's French MotoGP on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans after coming out on top in Saturday's qualifying.

Spanish rider Marquez on pole in France
Spanish rider Marc Marquez (C) celebrates after clocking the best time, during qualifying at Le Mans. Photo: Jean-Francois Monier/AFP

Marquez, on a Honda, claimed the 30th pole position of his career, his second in the sport's elite category, by coming in 0.03 seconds faster than compatriot Jorge Lorenzo, the defending world champion, on his Yamaha.

Andrea Dovizioso of Italy, on a Ducati, will start from third place after coming in 0.416sec behind Marquez.

Marquez leads fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa by three points in the overall standings coming into the French race, which is the fourth event of the season.

The last time he took pole, at Austin last month, he went on to win the race.

The 20-year-old admitted he was delighted with pole after having fallen in the earlier practice session.

"I was on my second bike, but to build that confidence again after a crash is quite difficult," Marquez said.

"It takes time. I took one or two laps, but then it was qualifying and I pushed like before. In terms of my rhythm, I'm happy. Jorge had a very good rhythm but, you know, we will see how the weather and everything is tomorrow and we will try to do our best."

Lorenzo, who won the season-opener in Qatar, said Yamaha are closing in on the consistency he believes was missing at Jerez last time out.

"All weekend we have been working to improve the feeling with the front tyre — with which we had some difficulties in Jerez — in order to have a more consistent pace," said the Spaniard.

"I think we got it. I was concentrating on doing a very fast lap but unfortunately I couldn't beat Marc today because he was really fast, but our main target for was to improve the bike for the race and I think we got it."

Yamaha Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow overcame a heavy crash in final practice to take fourth spot and will share the second row with Honda's Stefan Bradl and Pedrosa, the winner in Spain two weeks ago.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi was down in eighth place on his Yamaha.

"Unfortunately today was a worse day compared to Friday," said the Italian.

"We started quite badly this morning because we had some problems with the rear tyre, so we struggled very much in the practice. We had a lot of question marks so we wanted to try the same setting this afternoon. In fact the tyre had a problem because this afternoon it was not so bad. My rhythm and pace for the race is quite good.

Rossi is chasing an 80th career MotoGP win on Sunday.

But he is in the middle of an alarming winning drought with his 79th and last triumph coming in Malaysia in October 2010 before he switched to his unsuccessful two-year spell at Ducati.

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SPORT

Italian Grand Prix: Alonso accuses stewards of drinking beer instead of watching race

The stewards at Sunday's Italian Grand Prix were 'having a Heineken' instead of watching the race properly, according to a furious Fernando Alonso.

Italian Grand Prix: Alonso accuses stewards of drinking beer instead of watching race
McLaren's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso. Photo: AFP

The two-time world champion accused the stewards of enjoying the beer supplied by Formula One's sponsors after an incident in which Briton Jolyon Palmer passed him, by cutting out the second chicane.

He believed the stewards misread the incident and did not react appropriately, launching into a tirade of radio messages to his McLaren-Honda team.

The incident had enabled Palmer of Renault to take 12th position in the race – which he refused to give back, as is conventional when a driver cuts out a chicane.

The stewards eventually caught up with events and gave Palmer a five-second penalty before he retired with mechanical problems. When Alonso learned of the Englishman's exit, he told his team it was 'karma'.

He said: “When we arrived at the chicane we were side-by-side… We braked late and I managed to take the chicane, but he didn't and he jumped it and stayed in front.

“Usually, that's something that's very clear in the rules – when two cars are side-by-side at the chicane and one gets to take it and one doesn't, you give back the position — but this time the FIA must have been having a Heineken.

“It was not up to F1 standards. There is not an interpretation possible there. It is black and white, but anyway, fighting for 16th and 17th, it doesn't matter.”

Alonso was also forced into retirement on the penultimate lap with gearbox problems.

Palmer said he blamed Alonso for their incident at the chicane. “I was ahead coming in, he braked super-late and forced me off the track – I'm sure it will be another talking point at the next race because Fernando is not very happy about it, but I don't care.”

The pair also clashed at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, triggering the bad blood that was prevalent in Sunday's race.

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